This invention relates to thermostatically controlled apparatus and more particularly to such apparatus for controlling the automatic operation of a heating system and a cooling system in response to the temperature of a monitored environment.
Essentially, there are many facilities which can utilize both air conditioning and heating units for all seasons. Such units may be wall mounted, floor mounted or window mounted. Even though such units may have their own thermostat controls, it would be desirable to control all such units from a single thermostat unit.
For examples of thermostatically controlled outlets which relate to the separate control of heating and air conditioning systems, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,050 issued to Kalman Podlipnik, the inventor herein, on Aug. 18, 1987 and entitled "Dual Thermostat Controlled Outlets". In that system there is shown a housing which contains two thermostats interwired so as to enable one thermostat to control the heating operation and the other thermostat to control a cooling operation. As seen in that patent, a housing contains AC power receptacles which are coupled, respectively, to the thermostats to enable a separate heating system to be activated when needed and to enable an air conditioning unit or a fan to be activated during intervals when heating is not required.
Also see U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,099 also issued to Kalman Podlipnik on Oct. 4, 1988 and entitled "Thermostatic Control Apparatus for Operation Between the Heating and Cooling Mode." To control the heating and cooling operations, this system utilizes a pair of mercury switches. The two mercury switches are coupled to a single bimetallic element and are inclined, one with respect to the other. The circuit configuration is such that one switch controls the heating operation while the other switch controls a cooling operation. Heating and cooling occurs within a predetermined range which is adjustable by means of the angular positions of the switches with respect to the bimetallic coil.
Therefore, it is a main object of the present invention to provide an improved thermostatic control apparatus for maintaining the environment at a desired temperature within a given temperature range by automatically controlling a heating system and a cooling system.
A further object of the present invention is to utilize a single mercury switch for maintaining the environment within a given temperature range of the desired temperature, the temperature being a function of the angular position of the mercury switch and the range being purely a function of the configuration of the switch housing.